


Minor Key Symphony

by PunkHazard



Series: All Roads [10]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-14
Updated: 2012-06-14
Packaged: 2017-11-07 17:02:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/433409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkHazard/pseuds/PunkHazard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drills again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Minor Key Symphony

**Author's Note:**

> _Sing a requiem for me  
>  Make it sad but sweet  
> A song about release  
> A minor key symphony_

Drills again.

Kuina could do them with her eyes closed by now, could have for the past two years, but now that she had started adding heavier weights, drills incorporated muscle training as well. Her techniques were already first-class; Zoro could beat her at arm-wrestling and she needed to pull ahead again. Not that the shrimp could pin her down, even with the advantage of strength and eventual size.

She'd worked hard, always harder than anyone else; natural talent was a given but without effort, it'd all add up to nothing, and she couldn't deal with that.

Kuina doesn't listen to anything her father says anymore, instead sitting in on his advanced classes and taking note of what she already knew as he taught it to all the adults she had beaten time and time again. When the class is over, they come to challenge her ("Kuina-jouchan, feel like a round?"), and she hated the way they said it. Always so condescending; no need to be polite to a girl, a girl who we will exceed as soon as she reaches that age. No need to call someone so strong sensei because we will pass her soon.

Again and again, no matter how many fights she had already been through, no matter how tired or sweaty from these (practice rounds, nothing more than practice rounds with people who won't ever amount to anything more), she would always win. Always to draw a smile, approval from her father who'd been her idol for so long, but Kuina knows he only has eyes for Zoro.

She can't help but feel a little jealous; her beloved father paid more attention to some kid who showed up out of the blue than his own daughter, who would have made any father proud. For a while, she hated the customs and stigmas she had grown with, matured under and fought against every day of her life.

One thing she loves about it, though, is that Zoro's there and he believes that someday he'll beat her; not because she had become weak but because he'll have gotten strong. He looks up to her (well, he is a little short) and respects her as a rival, not just an problem that'll soon solve itself. She has a lot of respect for people who live in the moment, ignoring her future and theirs like she was unable to do, simply because no one would let her.

He acknowledges that she'll continue to get stronger and that he has to work even harder in order to surpass her, even before she acknowledged it herself.

It's a funny relationship they have.

She's looking forward to tomorrow. Kuina wants to teach Zoro everything she knows and once they were on the same level, she wanted to spar with him, long and hard for maybe hours on end, simply because it wouldn't be so easy anymore. And then they could get stronger together. She felt like celebrating; it was a good night to sharpen and polish her blades, because it seemed like she'd be using them a lot more from now on.

But there was doubt, always would be. She'd have to fight harder for respect and even when her reputation got out, no one would believe it until they caught a glimpse of her power themselves. It's a long, hard path and she might not be prepared for it, but Kuina thinks she'll try it out anyway; it's been a long time since she's been able to test her own limits.

It was gonna be a good life. Never boring, always facing ahead and moving forward at a furious pace. It was something, everything.

Kuina thinks that from now on, she has everything to lose.


End file.
